History Main / UnskilledButStrong

** Discussed while explaining why [[Franchise/DeadRising Frank West]] would [[spoiler:lose]] a fight against [[Franchise/ResidentEvil Leon S. Kennedy]]: [[spoiler:Frank may have both the gear and the smarts to survive a ZombieApocalypse, but what he doesn't have, as a civilian war correspondent, is the training. [[StrongAndSkilled Leon]], who served as both a police officer and an agent for the US government, thus has the upper hand]].

** Comes to bite [[ComicBook/TheBoys Homelander]] in the ass big time during his fight with [[ComicBook/{{Invincible}} Omni-Man]]. Wiz sums it up best by pointing out that one is a warrior while the other is a bully. Homelander has never fought somebody on his level and has no idea how to actually fight or even take a punch, (something Omni-Man even mocks him for), while his opponent has come from a warrior society. [[spoiler: Omni-Man toys with Homelander the entire fight, takes superficial damage at most, and disembowels him at the end of the fight.]]

* ''Literature/{{Sexiled}}'': Soon after meeting Laplace, Tanya changes her class from a Sorceress to the [[MagicKnight Magi-Knight]] to use the sword Laplace gifted her. She has no problems with the "Magi" part, as Tanya starts the series as a highly StrongAndSkilled mage. As for the "knight" part, Tanya is a total novice with the sword as she mainly only knows how to swing her sword really hard. Because of her skills as a mage and her ability to infuse her weapon with her magic, however, she can swing her sword really ''really'' hard. She has no difficulty against golems she and her party meet on a dungeon crawl, even after Laplace powers them up with varying elemental attributes to help demonstrate to Nadine what a Magi-Knight is.

* Bob Sapp, a 300+ lb former NFL player, transitioned into kickboxing with very little training and earned surprising success in his early career, including two wins over the great Ernesto Hoost. His style relied on simply rushing at his opponents, using his size to them corner and overwhelm them with wild barrages of full-power punches. His MMA style also relied on his size and strength to ragdoll his opponents.

** Garion, the hero of ''Literature/TheBelgariad''. Garion is rather startled to find out he has more natural power at age 15 than most centuries-old sorcerers do. Garion is the first to admit he doesn't have enough understanding of the forces involved, so he tends to leave that sort of thing to his Mentors.
*** An example: the one time he uses his sorcery to control the weather, he nearly causes an ice age ''by accident'', and the more experienced sorcerers have to spend six months running all over the globe to fix it.

** The sequel has Racer, who has traded in his old TimeMaster powers for proper SuperSpeed, enough to lay a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on an opponent before they can even react. The process also reduced him to a borderline mindless savage however, and Samuel proves that careful timing can eliminate the advantage his speed provides as he attacks in a fairly predictable manner.

* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': Suzaku, for now -- he has a highly advanced Knightmare frame and incredible sync rate, but that will only go so far against opponents (e.g. the Autobots) who have been fighting for '''longer than he has been alive.'''

* In their first spar in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/24312460/chapters/60208927 A Young Girl's Padawan Record]]'', [[Franchise/StarWars Anakin]] and [[LightNovel/SagaOfTanyaTheEvil Tanya]] both utilize levitation to add an extra dimension to their attacks. Anakin can move himself far faster than Tanya can, but is largely unable to maneuver beyond launching himself in straight lines, in contrast to Tanya who isn't as fast but can freely maneuver through the air.

* The White Queen in ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'' initially appears to be this, but is actually a subversion. She almost never uses skill when fighting, simply because she's vastly more powerful than any opponent. The one time she does fight seriously, it's clear that she's skilled in every possible field of fighting.

** ''LightNovel/FateZero'': Servant Berserker averts this trope, as his ability Eternal Arms Mastership lets him retain his fighting skills despite being mad. And since he's [[spoiler:Sir Lancelot, the most skilled knight of the Round Table]], this renders him an utter terror in melee.
** ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'':

* ''Literature/TheWitchOfKnightcharm'': Maura Dettweiler, a rookie witch at an evil WizrdingSchool, fits this trope. Her spells have a lot of power but are poorly crafted and tend to fall apart, sometimes even bursting apart under the strain of their own energy.

* In a weird way, the Stormtroopers going against the Ewoks can be considered this in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''. Ewoks aren't just tiny, they also come from a low-G world so they're extra weak. The Stormtroopers should have been like John Carter the Warlord of Mars and punting Ewoks into orbit. Instead, the Stormtroopers turn out to be even worse at melee than they are at shooting and were only keeping their heads above water against unarmed Ewoks in a fistfight. So when Ewoks started breaking out the rocks, the Stormtroopers were doomed!
** General Grievous may have been trained by Dooku, but he sure lacks the finesse the Sith Lord had. When he's not [[DirtyCoward running away from a fight]], Grievous attacks with [[LightningBruiser overpowering speed and ferocity]]. But all his flash and dominating strength prove to be his ultimate end against a more seasoned opponent like Obi-Wan.
** Kylo Ren/Ben Solo could never replace the raw talent of his grandfather. His power is mainly achieved through rage and frustration, even would-be Jedi, Rey bested him. It's very obvious Kylo has anger issues, other than that his skill in the Force is mediocre, compared to his predecessors.

* In ''Film/TheMatrix'', while the other characters use a variety of styles and moves, the Agents pretty much just punch and dodge, relying on their superhuman strength and speed. Discussed [[http://plotlessviolence.comicgenesis.com/d/20061112.html here]]. Nonetheless, it seems to suffice, as Morpheus states that, until Neo came along, ''every'' Zion rebel who stood his/her ground against an Agent ended up dead and even when Neo ''does'' take out an agent, he comes back at full strength mere seconds later by just jumping into another body.

* Your typical street brawler has absolutely no technique but can punch hard enough to KO someone. {{Zigzagg|ing Trope}}ed in that a street brawler could easily have plenty of in-fight experience making up for a lack of finesse.
* People who lift with their backs, no matter how much they can lift, will never be as efficient as someone who lifts with their legs and keeps their backs straight while doing so. Likewise, there are a number of back problems that can be caused if you lift with your back (especially if you deadlift 200+-pound barbells without proper technique).
* The third world chess champion, Jose Raul Capablanca, was such a prodigy that, during the beginning of his career, he never bothered to study any opening theory or do any serious preparation for any of his games, yet he kept winning just by his natural talent. {{Averted| Trope}} later on when he actually did study and improve his opening knowledge, although he still had a reputation as a lazy player -- in fact, many people think the reason that he eventually lost the championship to Alexander Alekhine was that the latter took the match much more seriously: Alekhine prepared intensely for each game, whereas Capablanca spent each night at the bar drinking and partying, confident that he didn't need to study.
* This is actively discouraged among car drivers. Aggressive, impatient, and competitive driving [[TooDumbToLive is one of the main causes of an accident on the road]]. Without a clear understanding of how to position and manipulate a car skillfully, a driver is more likely to crash, get arrested, or even [[LethallyStupid kill someone]] due to sheer ineptitude.

** Leviathia[==/==][[spoiler:Sheeree]] of Devil Hand has the rare magic, Magic Drain, a form of PowerCopying that lets her mimic and magic she ''sees''. This eventually gives her an arsenal comprised of several of Fairy Tails most powerful members' magics, including the likes of [[TheAce Erza and Mirajane]] and can use [[AllYourPowersCombined all of them at once]] to overwhelm her opponents, even defeating the likes of Erza. However, several people note that her proficiency with each magic she copies is greatly lacking compared to its original user, and using so many at once rapidly tires her out, letting her old friend Wendy (who has been [[TookALevelInBadass training under Modeus]]) easily gain the upper hand in their rematch. It's also mentioned that the reason she was able to take down so many members of Fairy Tail before was largely due to their reluctance [[WouldntHurtAChild to harm a twelve-year-old-girl]].

** Naruto works with Gaara to improve the latter's skills, and he discovers that Gaara's hand-to-hand fighting skills are just awful. Gaara's sand control is so overwhelmingly powerful that he's never had to fight up close, so he hasn't properly practised it, leaving his technique very mechanical and predictable. They don't have time for the level of training he would need to truly fix the problem, but they do come up with some workarounds to let him enhance his taijutsu with sand, enough that close range isn't such a glaring weakness.

* ''Comicbook/CaptainAmerica'': [[AntiHeroSubstitute John Walker]] was established as this in relation to Steve Rogers. While even after government-sponsored training to bring him up to speed as Captain America, Walker did not even approach Rogers in actual skill. However the Power Broker's treatments gave him SuperStrength and SuperToughness that eclipsed his rival/predecessor along with [[LightningBruiser speed and agility which at least approached his]], meaning most of their early encounters left Steve ''barely'' holding his own.

* Your typical street brawler has absolutely no technique but can punch hard enough to KO someone. Somewhat subverted though, since a street brawler could easily have plenty of in-fight experience making up for a lack of finesse.

* The third world chess champion, Jose Raul Capablanca, was such a prodigy that, during the beginning of his career, he never bothered to study any opening theory or do any serious preparation for any of his games, yet he kept winning just by his natural talent. Subverted later on when he actually did study and improve his opening knowledge, although he still had a reputation as a lazy player -- in fact, many people think the reason that he eventually lost the championship to Alexander Alekhine was that the latter took the match much more seriously: Alekhine prepared intensely for each game, whereas Capablanca spent each night at the bar drinking and partying, confident that he didn't need to study.
* This is actively discouraged among car drivers. [[SuicidalOverconfidence Aggressive, impatient and competitive]] driving is one of the main causes of an accident on the road. Without a clear understanding of how to position and manipulate a car skillfully, a driver is more likely to crash, get arrested, or even kill someone due to sheer ineptitude.

* Steven Stone criticizes Ash's many of Pokémon for this in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13023277/18/Legend Legend]]'', as they favor too much of their raw power in order to overwhelm an opponent but lack the sufficient training to back up their power. He is particularly concerned about Ash's Metagross, as the Stones have been guarding the colony he originally came from and is insisted on training him when the time comes.

* Steven Stone criticizes Ash's many of Pokémon for this in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13023277/18/Legend Legend]]'', as they favor too much of their raw power in order to overwhelm an opponent but lack the sufficient training to back up their power.

* Big Jack Horner from ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' is a massive crime lord [[StoutStrength with the strength to back it up]]. Pair that with his near-limitless arsenal of magic weapons, and he's unstoppable... or he would be if he knew how to use any of his weapons beyond "[[BuffySpeak point killy end at thing you want dead]]."

** ''Franchise/FateSeries'':
*** All Servants are supposed to have superhuman combat skills except for TheBerserker class, whose gimmick is that they lose their fighting skills in exchange for massive power boosts and madness. Berserker in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' is so fast and so strong that actual fighting techniques are nearly worthless against him, as all the fancy parries and stances in the world won't help against someone who strikes faster than you can react and shatters your weapon with a single blow. And that's before you consider the fact that he's nearly immune to normal attacks, has twelve lives, and becomes immune to any attack after it kills him.